Rover Rescue in VEXcode VR provides a large area of an alien planet to explore. As you begin coding the VR Rover to traverse the alien landscape, there are many different strategies that can be implemented. If you are unfamiliar with the story of Rover Rescue, please see this article about getting started with Rover Rescue.
Gameplay Strategies
The information below is provided to help you dive further into strategy-based coding in Rover Rescue. If you are not familiar with the basic gameplay elements like using minerals or neutralizing enemies, see this section of articles.
While this is a starting list for strategies, there are many additional options that can be discovered by combining multiple methods (like a mineral-focused strategy that also neutralizes enemies when they are detected, or a base-focused strategy that avoids enemies to save battery life when collecting minerals).
Example projects can be used as a starting point for your code. See this article for more information on accessing and using example projects in VEXcode VR.
Mineral-Focused
If using a mineral-focused strategy, the VR Rover will use minerals only when necessary to extend its battery life and your game.
One way to remain mineral-focused while speeding up the number of days elapsed is by using the standby function of the VR Rover.
The standby function allows the VR Rover to go into a standby mode until its battery reaches the specified level. While in standby, time speeds up so the number of days survived rapidly increases while the battery level rapidly decreases.
However, by only using the standby function along with finding minerals, it could take a significant amount of time to level up the VR Rover and may make your VR Rover vulnerable to irradiated enemies.
In this image, you can see that the VR Rover has gained 2 experience points (XP) from using the mineral after the standby shown in the above video.
Enemy-Focused
Another strategy for the long-term survival of your VR Rover could be gaining energy and refilling your battery through absorbing radiation and neutralizing enemies.
As the VR Rover travels farther from the Base, the enemies become stronger and the VR Rover must gain enough XP to level up and defeat them.
It is recommended to only attack enemies that are near the VR Rover's level and only when it has a full or mostly-full battery to ensure survival. For more information about neutralizing enemies, see this article.
While dangerous, this strategy ensures the VR Rover levels up quickly and can then explore more of the planet.
Each VR Rover action earns a specific number of XP, as shown in the table. Neutralizing enemies is the action that earns the VR Rover the most XP in the game.
Use the (Enemy level) block to determine the level of an enemy before approaching. This could be used to create logic to specify that if the Enemy level is less than the level of the VR Rover the VR Rover will approach that enemy and attack.
Base-Focused
As shown in the table above, the VR Rover can also earn 5 XP for each mineral sample returned to the Base. By maximizing the capacity of the VR Rover's storage, it can bring back more minerals with each level gained.
By spending time collecting minerals and taking them to the Base, the VR Rover can extend its life. Because minerals are almost always available in the storage of the VR Rover while collecting minerals, there is a reliable source to refill the VR Rover's battery when it gets low.
To determine the carrying capacity of the VR Rover, see the capacity indicator in the Playground window. The VR Rover begins by being able to carry two mineral samples.
You can also use commands in VEXcode VR to determine the capacity of the storage while a project is running. In this code snippet, the VR Rover would return to Base when the VR Rover's storage is full. You could then use similar blocks to determine how many mineral samples to drop off at Base before going out to collect more.